This is a discussion on How much should you raise preflop? within the online poker forums, in the Learning Poker section; Hi everyone, I'm just curious how much you should be raising preflop? I played at a house game last night and I know this is

How much should you raise preflop?

Hi everyone, I'm just curious how much you should be raising preflop? I played at a house game last night and I know this is far from playing at a casino. Everyone seemed to be raising just 1BB. The blinds started out $10/$20 and everyone was just raising it to $40. Even as the blinds progressed, the raise was usually just 1BB. When I raised I always raised 5BB.

I've read some posts here were someone said your raise should be determined by the strength of your hand. I'm sorry, but I can't believe that that is sound advice. I always keep my raises the same size.

Anyway, back to the home game, alot of people were in early position and hitting trip 5's with hands like J5o. Even when I played at a local tournament in town, someone made a comment to me raising 5BB that I should raise smaller so other people could play. If I have a hand I want to play from any position, I'm not sure I want it with someone holding J5o that could flop a set. I'm thinking that if that person wants to play J5o and limps in, if I raise 1BB, is that enough to "punish" them for trying to play too many hands and drive them out?

I played at a local tourny a few weeks back and when I had a hand to play, I raised 5BB...at least early on when the blinds were low and I had a stack behind me. Alot of people limped in, I raised and they all folded...that is how the first 2 hours went. Some were not happy with it, but oh well. I understand playing in a tourny like this and playing in my friends garage is different...I didn't raise 5BB, I just limped or raise 1BB like everyone else. I don't want to play at my friends house like it's a local tourny and upset people by raising so much.

Is raising 1BB now the "standard"? Is it enough to deal with people constantly wanting to play trash hands? When playing local tournaments or even at the casinos, what is the standard raise preflop?

I would never determine the amount I raise on the strength of my cards, I raise the same weather it's J8 or AA

#3

27th November 2017, 7:42 PM

Gabinho12345 [1,268]

2BB-3BB is standard raise. 5BB raise is too big. And yes, you should be raising the same amount with all your hands that you are raising with.

#4

27th November 2017, 8:59 PM

agriggy [101]

Online Poker at: Party Poker

Game: holdem

It all depends on the strength of tour hand, if you are holding AA or KK, you want players to come along so you can win more instead of them dropping out. If you have a mediocre hand like Q J, 2-3 BB is enough, knocks some rags out.

#5

27th November 2017, 9:12 PM

ucdengboss [179]

Game: Holdem

I tend to keep my raises between 2.3 and 2.8X. This amount tends to reduce the field a bit so as to not end up in a 5 or 6 way hand while still giving me good value on my premium hands where I do not mind having a person or two calling. I agree that 2X seems a little too small.

I do not change the raise amount based on hand strength. Changing the amount based on hand strength will simply give you opponents information about your hand. Avoid this.

I should state that I only play tournaments, not cash games, so I do make some adjustments. If there are limpers then I raise more. The more limpers to more I raise. The logic behind this is again to limit the number of callers, but also even if they all fold I don't mind as there is a small pot already built. The other reason to adjust in a tournament is short stack play. If you are at or below about 10BB or the blinds plus ante amount to a significant amount of your stack you should be thinking push/fold only.

#6

18th January 2018, 1:30 PM

John Penniston [54]

Online Poker at: Pokerstars

Game: Holdem

re: Poker & How much should you raise preflop?

Depends on your position and you intend to do, raising minimum 3bb is ideal to get weak hands out of the game. Raising 1/4 of your stack can help you set up for a bluff if miss the flop